Tasked with overseeing Apple's human interface efforts, Senior Vice President of Industrial Design Jony Ive has reportedly brought the company's hardware and mobile software design teams together in a push toward a simpler and more cohesive "flat design," according to a new report.

People familiar with Apple's daily operations told The Wall Street Journal that Ive has been briefing the human interface team on prototypes earlier than usual in hopes of fostering a collaborative environment, and to allow software engineers time to better take advantage of upcoming hardware. The new inter-office dynamic, called "a thawing," is a change from Apple's previous workflow, which largely kept iOS software and hardware designers separate.

Apple SVP of Industrial Design Jony Ive.

Ive, who took over human interface design duties in October after former iOS chief Scott Forstall was ousted in October, is reportedly looking to make Apple's software more in line with his minimalist hardware aesthetic. Developers who have spoken to Apple employees said the new "flat design" will be more simple than the current iteration of iOS, but failed to offer further details.

The publication noted that Ive is now sitting in on human interface design team meetings to add his perspective on new developments, but despite the added input, no drastic modifications to iOS are expected for the near future.

Following Ive's lead, SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi is also said to be moving his Mac teams toward a more collaborative process, but that change hasn't been as rapid. Sources claim Federighi plans to keep Mac and iOS teams separate for the time being, though one person expects the two groups to reorganize this summer.

I've said this before and it fell on deaf ears but Ive knows almost nothing about software design. This move is just as likely to be a bad thing as a good thing IMO.

"Flatness" isn't good in and of itself just as skeuomorphism isn't good in and of itself. Also a lot of the "non-flat" stuff in iOS is the best most successful parts.

A unilateral "flattening" of the OS might look good at first just because it's different but it won't necessarily solve anything.

Also, "simple" and "flat" are not the same thing.

I understand what you're saying I don't think Ive needs to have a strong background in SW design for it to work. What he needs to be open to ideas (which I think he clearly is) and have an eye for what makes something visually appealing without losing its usefulness (which I think is self-evident). Maybe his skills in the one won't carry over to the other but of anyone at Apple in charge with a final say in how something looks I'm damn happy its Ive.

This bot has been removed from circulation due to a malfunctioning morality chip.

I'd like to see a little more pizzazz, but functionality definitely needs to be improved. For instance, I want easy access to certain settings like wi-fi. Further, Siri is nice, but Google's search works better in terms of how fast it completes a task.

Flat doesn't necessarily mean it'll look like Windows 8. Google Now and many of Google's core apps on iOS utilize a flat design and they look great - modern looking like Windows 8 but as functional as iOS. After using it for awhile, I'm not a big fan Windows Metro either.

In my business, the printing industry, flat means dull and lifeless. I hope that's not the direction that Ive plans to move towards.

Then be sure to avoid making flat and dull designs. The UI has nothing to do with your productivity and final outputs. The UI is meant to be non-distracting and if this means they are returning to a clean minimized look [albeit modernized] with the way OPENSTEP was then I'm all for it.

It's called a comment section on a technology site. If you only want to hear your own voice, why don't you open up a word processor and start typing comments.

There is a huge difference between having a difference of opinion that leads to mature debates and going to the forums of sites where all you do post is lies and negative rhetoric to get attention (i.e.: trolling).

This bot has been removed from circulation due to a malfunctioning morality chip.

Then be sure to avoid making flat and dull designs. The UI has nothing to do with your productivity and final outputs. The UI is meant to be non-distracting and if this means they are returning to a clean minimized look [albeit modernized] with the way OPENSTEP was then I'm all for it.

I'm interested in seeing what this results in. I actually think this could be a good evolution of the UI. But we don't really have a lot to go on here. If I had to guess it will be more of an Apple take on the Swiss design school blended with their current approach in some ways.

I think some streamlining and flattening could be welcome. I'd also favor de-rounding of some corners. But more importantly than all of that, some new UI interaction approaches that reflect the changes in the device and it's usage (e.g., dozens of apps, etc.)

But I'm also interested in seeing how the UI might change to reflect apps poking information and content up through their "icons" or what not even when not the active/main app at the moment. Some improved approach that reflects the desire to be getting tidbits of content and information from the various apps in somewhat of a "dashboard" fashion.

The Fact Is: You're so full of your own biased/one-sided opinions that any comments that don't conform to said 'opinions' 100% you lash out at, ridicule, and label as 'trolling', when the truth is that you, and several of your cronies/aliases, are the Biggest Trolls On The Entire Site.

Don't Like My Posts (which do NOT violate any reasonable forum rules) Then Block My Screen Name and Stop Constantly Disrupting Threads With Your Hateful/Childish/Trollish/Off-Topic Nonsense.

Anyway... Great to read that Apple's entertaining updating the iOS UI, and 'flat' certainly seems to be the trend these days.

Originally Posted by SCProfessor
Wait... wait... wait... you mean my Samesong two gen removed has a screen to turn on and off wifi as bluetooth, GPS, Sync, brightness, screen timeout, tips, and settings?

Apple is changing iTunesConnects UI (the website not the app). They are removing shadows, gradient, and other 3D effects. They are using bright colors (White and light gray). They also got rid of rounded corners. It has Ive all over it. I believe this is the new direction. The good thing is UI changes in iOS are not that difficult to implement. Since iOS 5, Apple made customization for 3rd party apps very easy. We will still have Navigation Bars, Tool Bars, Tab Bar.. etc. In iOS 7 they will look different.

PS. One thing that I hope Apple do is make custom color themes for different color iOS devices. That would be nice.

Apple is changing iTunesConnects UI (the website not the app). They are removing shadows, gradient, and other 3D effects. They are using bright colors (White and light gray). It has Ive all over it. I believe this is the new direction. The good thing is UI changes in iOS are not that difficult to implement. Since iOS 5, Apple made customization for 3rd party apps very easy. We will still have Navigation Bars, Tool Bars, Tab Bar.. etc. In iOS 7 they will look different.

PS. One thing that I hope Apple do is make custom color themes for different color iOS devices. That would be nice.

I thought about that changing color scheme too, but then people would complain that they haven't the color they want...
iOS is hopefully getting rid of the blue color in the browser and unify the os color.
Get rid of glass effects, add light textures like in the osx toolbars and blur transparency.
Get rid of skeumorphism that doesn't add anything.

Below the status bar, the same texture that is spread across the whole Android OS and some of the Google Apps.

Yes, I see that now. It's very discrete, I think it looks great. Apple should dump flashy textures and use textures that the user doesn't notice, but make him more comfortable. Windows had the good idea of going all-digital, but they went too far. What's funny is that their experiment has probably been a lesson to a lot of brands.